I am sick of my voice being unheard at my school. Prompted by the recent rumors about the schedule next year at Charlottesville High School, I’ve been trying to find out more about how the administration interacts with the students. The truth: there is no such thing as interaction between those who run the school and those who attend it. Teachers are barely given a say in school policies, let alone the students.

So I thought to myself: who is in charge of student-administration relations? Supposedly, you would think it would be the Student Council Association. Turns out, it’s a complete joke at CHS. In fact, upon examination of Wikipedia’s information on Student Governments, I learned that high school SCA’s are a complete joke across the board. The important members of this organization deal with the responsibilities of organizing fund raisers, dances, and pep rallies. I’m sure glad everyone has this much faith in students’ ability to have intellectual conversations on issues that actually matter in the school… In my opinion, the SCA should actually serve as a bridge between the students and the administration, communicating ideas efficiently in both directions, and getting rid of the disrespect between those two groups which is inevitable when so much secrecy surrounds them.

This new schedule for the coming year, for example. I have heard countless rumors on what it will be like, the number of periods, how those periods will be broken up… Many of them so obviously false (considering they contradict both what I’ve heard from teachers and the vision of the new superintendent) I can’t believe people are believing them. What we need is an effective form of communication that the administration can use to inform students on what’s going on. I can’t tell you how much class time has been wasted over the past week with students asking teachers about the new schedule. Simple way to get that time back: just tell the students straight up what’s happening to them. Then again, why should I as a student expect this kind of respect when the teachers haven’t even been made aware of what’s going on?

I recently read on cvillenews.com that Albemarle County superintendent Pamela Moran was considering starting a blog about school issues. I think this is an excellent idea, and one of the only ways to foster the direct communication between the administration and the public that is required in order to make informed, democratic decisions on school issues. The fact is, schools are afraid of having bilateral discussions with the student, fearing an undermining of authority. This is sad. I was conducting an interview a few weeks ago with a teacher at CHS, and he insisted that he be allowed to see the story before it was published, “to make sure he communicated clearly what he was trying to say.” In other words, he wanted to ensure that my story did not paint a negative view of the schools, because as a faculty member, he could get in trouble for speaking to the media about school issues. Again, this is sad.

Tomorrow, I plan on tracking down the Assistant Principle at CHS and asking her to communicate the true information directly to the public. If she won’t talk to me as a student, I’ll ask as a member of the Charlottesville independent media. For the sake of my faith in the school system, I hope she responds.

There are some great books out there you might be interested in, concerning what schools are really all about. One is “Dumbing Us Down: the Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling” by Gatto, and then there’s the “Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education” by Llewellyn.

Heh, I actually wouldn’t be surprised if my mom already had some of those books - I think you two would get along :).